Hi John --

If you’re a ratepayer, you probably want your council focused on doing the basics brilliantly – fixing the pipes, filling in potholes and maintaining local assets quickly, carefully and cost effectively.

But nothing in life is free – you expect your rates to pay for that stuff. What you don’t expect to pay for is the laundry-list of distractions and experiments that are plaguing council balance sheets across the country.

That’s why I announced four new measures at today’s Local Government New Zealand conference to get councils back to basics.

Here’s what we’ll do:

- Make changes to the Local Government Act to restore councils’ focus on local services and infrastructure


- Investigate performance benchmarks for local councils so ratepayers know exactly what they’re getting for their rates


- Investigate options to limit councils from spending ratepayers’ money on pet projects and nice-to-haves


- Review the transparency and accountability rules that apply to councils to ensure democratic decision-making for ratepayers.

In central government, we’re getting on with the job. We're stopping wasteful spending, shifting money from the back office to the frontline, setting clear delivery targets and expectations, prioritising what to do and what not to do, and letting Kiwis keep more of what they earn.

My parting message for councils today was that it’s time for them to do the same.

Go line by line, stop the wasteful spending, remove the bureaucracy, focus on better customer service, and end the projects that aren’t delivering value for money.

You can read my full speech here <[link removed]>. 

Christopher



----
NZ National Party - 41 Pipitea St, Wellington 6011, New Zealand
This email was sent to [email protected]. To stop receiving emails: [link removed]

Created with NationBuilder - [link removed]